 The one-man submarine will revolutionise war. Probably.
October 21, 2009 5:18 PM
China One-Man Submarine Correspondent
Darwin Award or Nobel Prize?
Dad of the Year at least, for migrant worker Tao Xiangli, who has refused to let his ambitions outstrip his abilities by building his own one-man submarine.
Tao gave onlookers the V-sign after he emerged from a five-minute maiden voyage to the bottom of a at a reservoir in Fangshan District, Beijing, in his battery-powered sub, knocked together with bits scavenged from local markets and built with no expert advice whatsoever.
"I made it bit-by-bit, purely out of my imagination," he told the Legal Evening Post.
The whole shebang is 1.5m high by 6.5m long and cost Tao - who has a primary school education - around $5000 and is shaped around five oil barrels.
It can move up, down, forwards, backwards, left and right. A stethoscope gives the battery-powered sub its sonar ability and a camera forms the periscope.
To go down, Tao opens two holes in the bottom of the sub which let water it. To go up, he pumps the water out.
Oxygen is provided by a pipe to the surface, yet despite its obvious brilliance, Tao is not considering applying for any patents.
"I made the submarine not for a patent but so that a talent scout can discover me," he told www.cctv.com.
|
